Wake Me Up
by HigherGround2
Summary: Kate and Castle's Christmas day. One-Shot. For my Tumblr Secret Stana buddy, jokennedy.


**For my Secret Stana buddy from Tumblr, jokennedy. It's been very fun talking with you!**

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Kate Beckett woke up to complete darkness. It was a dark that made her slowly adjusting eyes make her foggy mind question if she really had them open. Of course she did, and she could see a tiny bit of light stream under the door from the kitchen and living room area of the flat. More senses made themselves known as she felt strong arms clutching her and the person's hands resting on her stomach. Rick Castle. Ever so slowly she turned around in his arms to face his asleep body. She watched his face momentarily to make sure he was still unconscious before lifting her head to look at the time. It was 4 a.m. and she still had at least three hours of sleep left. 4 a.m. on Christmas morning. She fumbled around a bit before finally getting in a position she could fall back to sleep in. But, with her last movement, it had awaken him.

Her eyes remained open as she stared into his and his in hers. He smiled to her, "Good morning, Kate. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Castle." They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying each other and the presence before Castle asked what time it was.

"It's," she looked up at the clock, "4:25."

"In the morning? Kate we've got to go open presents! Come on!" He jumped out of bed, grabbing some sleep pants on the way and practically sprinted to the living room.

"Castle, wait!" Kate ran after him, and caught him on the first stair leading upstairs. "Castle, we have a few more hours, don't you want to go back to sleep? I'll make it worth while," she said as she stepped forward making sure he felt every curve of her body. She was suggesting something he loved to do with her, but right now he _really_ wanted presents.

"Kate," he whined.

"At least let's get coffee then we'll go wake Alexis. I still am asleep."

"Fine." They walked to the kitchen, her dragging him and then set up the coffee machine. By the time the coffee was ready to be poured, Castle's foot had been bobbing up and down enough to annoy her greatly.

"I mean there's just so much to do. All the presents under the tree _and_ the stockings. We've never saved both for the morning. And there's even more with you here. I'm just so excited!"

She was right. He was a little boy.

"Come on Kate. Can we now? Please!" he impatiently said.

A long sigh escaped her lips before she let him drag her upstairs. He busted into Alexis's room with a force Kate was sure would break the door, and she waited outside while he coaxed his daughter up. They all tiredly, except for Castle made their way downstairs and to the tree. Kate gave Alexis some hot chocolate then they all pulled down their stockings and began unwrapping things. Despite Castle's lie, he really had bought her - many - gifts, she still felt excited and happy. This was the first Christmas since that day that she truly felt... spirited.

They all determined spots to put their presents, and before long they each had pretty high piles. Then, it was on to the tree's gifts. Each already had a favorite present, Alexis a $100 gift card to JCPenney from Kate, Castle a pack of writing pens - the only kind he used - from Alexis, and Kate a small ornament from both that said "2012, Our First Christmas."

The massive tree gave tribute to at least 75 packages of different sizes. Many were to Alexis, as the child, and most were from Castle to them both. Few around were from distant family members, but it was obvious Castle was the big spender. The room soon became a flurry of wrapping paper that was thrown around having no value. The tree additionally gave more items to the favorite list including:

Kate: A pre-released copy of Castle's next book, engraved socks that said "Always", and a letter from the Apple store that told her 'someone' had already paid for this next year's I-phone bill.

Castle: A pair of sleep-pants from Kate that held a draw-string (for easy access), a picture book from Alexis that had pictures of him and Kate, and $300 from his mother.

Alexis: Five books, a gift card for Aeropostale, and an I-pad mini.

The day went on and they had Christmas dinner with the addition of Kate's father and Martha. Overall it was the best Christmas Kate had had in a long time and even though she had bits of sadness, all of that disappeared with Castle's smile. It turned out that in the end, the best gift was that night, spent in bed with Castle and they weren't sleeping at all.


End file.
